The monument is one of a group of six obelisks erected at Axum when Ethiopia adopted Christianity in the 4th century A.D. It was stolen by the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in 1937 and turned into a symbol of fascist power during his short-lived efforts to revive the grandeur of imperial Rome.
Despite signing various agreements that promised to return the 1,700-year-old monument, the Italian government showed no signs of doing so until the obelisk was badly damaged by lightning in a thunderstorm in 2003.
By the end of last year, the column had been dismantled from Rome's Piazza di Porta, near the Colosseum, where it stood for more than six decades, and engineers began work on the logistic obstacles that would make the return a difficult feat.
Indeed, it was much easier for Mussolini to carry the obelisk to Italy. At that time, the monument was already in fragments. It was restored in Rome using metal rods embedded in concrete, making it very hard to disassemble.
Italy had transported the monument by ship in 1937, but Ethiopia's government required that the stele be returned by plane: the only convenient port lies in Eritrea, unfriendly to Ethiopia because of a border war.
Divided into three sections, the Axum obelisk has been restored from the thunderstorm damage and stored in a police warehouse near a Rome airport, where it has been awaiting a solution to the transportation problem.
"We studied the logistics carefully as we did not want to return a damaged obelisk," Mantica told reporters.
With each section of the obelisk weighing between 70 and 80 tons, Italian authorities have to find a plane strong enough to carry the monument's huge weight and some other 50 tons of machinery and casing. There are only two planes able to handle that weight: the U.S. Lockheed C-5 Galaxy and the Russian Antonov 124. Since all the Galaxy planes are currently being used in Iraq, the Antonov will carry out the task.
Six million euros ($7.8 million) and five daredevil flights — one for each section of the obelisk, one for the machinery and another one to test the airstrip — will be necessary to return the obelisk and assemble it in an archaeological park in Axum.
"We realize that the Axum obelisk is very important for the Ethiopian people and we are happy to return it," Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said.
The monument will fly back home before the Ethiopian rainy season starts in April. The African country has already built a more suitable airstrip, but weather conditions will have to be perfect to make the return safe, Italian authorities said.
"This is a symbol of national identity to Ethiopians. We have been receiving vain promises from Italy for years, but now we are certain that by next year, between February and April, the obelisk will return to Ethiopia," Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said.
A national holiday has been promised for the day the obelisk is finally.
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